The albums have been graded on the most common grading system used in
Finnish schools. Where 4 is the worst, and 10 is the best. The final score
for the album is most of the times the average for all of the tracks, though it can also change if the reviewer wishes so. The Super Eurobeat Non-Stop albums will be reviewed as full collections, and the individual songs won't be reviewed, unless they are completely new. Though Euromach and JGTC albums for example will have complete song by song reviews.
The grading system simply goes as ie. 4- (3,75), 4 (4), 4+ (4,25) and 4½ (4,5) and the next one again would be 5-. A simple system we have over here in Finland.

Super Eurobeat 157

1.Lolita - My Heart Burns Like A Fire (A-Beat C)
Many eurobeat fans already are familiar to this song as Vivace
presented their J-Euro version of the same song on JGTC 2004 2nd Round,
and it was a mighty fine song even back then but Elena Gobbi brings
even more energy into the great song. The track starts with a beautiful
intro (although identical to the Vivace version, but none the less)
and carries on with energetic melody and Elena's great vocals that
give a last punch to the song that the original japanese version missed. A
killer chorus in combination with basic good eurobeat sounds works
marvellously like Lolita always does.Rating : 9½

2.Mega NRG Man - Supertonic Lady (A-Beat C)
One of the anticipated songs due to its appereance on Initial D, but is
the song any good? If you ask any Initial D fan, they'll say yes, if you
ask a random eurobeat listener you'll also get a yes. The song starts off
plain marvellously as the energetic melody kicks in and Tomas Martin's
punchy vocals give the song some kick-ass edge. Chorus and the perfect
c-melody are the best parts for this song, the nice female background
vocals add a nice flava to the c-melody in particular. To put it simply :
basic eurobeat at its best.Rating : 10

3.Cherry - She's All Right (Delta)Clara Moroni is the name that appears on practically every album
these days as most of the other Delta vocalists are only in minor roles.
If you've heard many of the previous Delta girly songs you can just
imagine how this song is, and it came to me as a bit of a surprise as
Cherry generally gets the better songs and the other titles the b-type
songs, this time it's the other way around. The track is just plain
soul-less, there's nothing really going on and it just flows on like the
music in elevators. Boring and kinda sad in a way.Rating : 6

4.Mr. M - No Reason To Cry (Time)
I have to admit that Time has lately been getting a fairly big amount of
great songs and I am not sure at all what's behind it. When this track
started for the first time I got a Deja Vu feeling and without looking at
the artist I thought that it's A-Beat C going on. The intro is a bit
distractive as the song does go back a bit to the general Time style but
the song is still on a rather high level. The vocals sound rather
seductive and I could think of some old blues singer doing this in a foggy
bar and that's a first image for any eurobeat song through out the years.
So the song has the similar Time style but it's also very distinctive in
some ways. Rather striking but nothing ground breaking.Rating : 8+

5.Nuage - Let's Go Dee Jay (A-Beat C)
Then we have the name that nobody can avoid these days in the eurobeat
world and I definitely hope nobody misses this song. Nuage is back
after getting her solo-album songs played all around and she carries on
with her incredible level. This song starts off with the best intro in
ages and when Denise's great vocals start flowing in you'll be
definitely pulled in. The song features a very variable soundworld with
excellent vinyl scratchings and plain terrific tricks with the synths. The
vocals work just magnificently and the chorus is irresistible. I've
probably said this before and I'll say it again: Nuage never seizes
to amaze me, an all around perfect song on all levels and a definite pick
for the Best Of 2005.Rating : 10+++

6.Leslie Parrish - Falling Free (Delta)Cherry had a boring song already and the other big girl name from
the same label follows the same footpaths, oh what's happening to Delta?
Okay rewind back a bit, where as Cherry was plain boring, this song
at least has some life in it, but it's kind of transparent at the same
time. The verses and c-melody sound nice and at some points even really
good, but what stinks here is the chorus... The chorus sounds really out
of place as the vocals just go on and have no peaks what so ever. The song
moves at a rather calm pace which suits Leslie but I still critize
their lack of imagination.Rating : 7+

7.J. Storm - Vision Of Paradise (A-Beat C)
The name that surprised many by appearing a while ago with Shout is
back to bring more energetic male energy to eurobeat listeners around the
world. If Shout was catchy then this song brings an even more
punching melody for the fans to adore. The typical J. Storm
attitude is here and you can probably confuse the song with some of the
other tracks he has done, but it doesn't really matter when the level is
generally so high. The c-melody is the definite peak for the album and if
you won't like the song at the first time, give it a few gos and you'll
probably start noticing the different nice aspects about it.Rating : 8½

8.Elisa - The Way You Love Me (Vibration)
Vibration often puzzles me. Who are all the people, why don't they get any
of the publicity the other labels get, why don't we know any of their
female vocalists and many other questions still remain in my mind. And the
reason for the questions mostly is due to the fact that the label has
their unique touch and they stick out from the albums time after time with
their one song. They're here now with Elisa who did the plain
terrific cover of Poison back on VIP3. The Way You Love Me
starts off rather calm but starts speeding up to the general Vibration
speed which is always good. The sounds and vocals sound simple yet good, I
couldn't really point anything specifically bad or specifically good about
the song but I still loved listening to it. A good general Vibration song
I guess.Rating : 8+

9.Priscilla - I Don't Wanna Stop (Delta)Priscilla is one of the longer running titles on Delta, yet I can't
really point out very many tracks by the title which kinda means that the
name hasn't managed to amaze me that much. I have this general image of
Priscilla in my head as nice Delta-girl title that is fun for a while
but gets repetitive after a while. I Don't Wanna Stop starts off
rather calmly and flows on sounding plain nice, no real highlights or bad
lows on it. A song that fits my image of Priscilla perfectly,
nothing special but fun for a while.Rating : 7½

10.Boogaboo - Bugabuga Chew Chew (HI-NRG Attack)
HI-NRG Attack has been lately very variable by their level. Boogaboo
is definitely best remembered by the hit song Beast Girl which
still after years works perfectly. The similar energetic mood is naturally
here and we get back to the crazy HI-NRG Attack time we got used to during
Euromach. The song is fast, has lyrics that make no sense what so ever,
has trains in the background going choo-choo and is fun to dance to. It's
like a flash back to the past! This song is just like made for Euromach,
now it reminds me of the good times and also gives me a very nostalgic
feeling. I can't help but love the song even though the chorus does get
kinda annoying after a while, but just Believe In Eurobeat!
Rating : 9

11.Overload - Terminator (Time)
A song titled Terminator will definitely rise the expectations for
any fan. So I'd suspect that a lot of people will get disappointed with
this song. The song starts off with heavy guitars playing in the
background and sounding very good but surprisingly when the chorus begins
the guitars get pulled onto the background and vocals take control. That's
when the song goes totally wrong... the chorus sounds boring and the
vocals don't add any kind of edge to the song. The song works pretty
nicely on every other field than the chorus, but as that's supposed to be
the best part of the song in general, I was pretty disappointed. Time can
do better.Rating : 7

12.Delta Queens - Satisfaction (Delta)
What happened to songs like My Bandido, Dance Around The World
or Energy Love? They appeared on multiple albums and became
memorable. What will happen to Satisfaction? It will probably
appear on max 1 album after this and will be forgotten very fast. Why?
Delta stopped putting spirit into their song. And the spirit in eurobeat
generally means speed and energetic vocals. Satisfaction doesn't
work, period.Rating : 6

13.Casanova - The Hero (Delta)Maurizio on an album generally means energy and a highlight for
many eurobeat listeners. The Hero will be just a song on Super
Eurobeat 157 that many people will skip to hear the better songs. The song
follows the same style as Satisfaction, although The Hero
sounds slightly better and could actually awake some interest to some
listeners. But I'm terribly disappointed again.Rating : 7-

14.Lisa Lion - Wonderful Feelin' (SCP)
What's the trend lately when SCP always seems to appear mostly at
the latter end of the album. Well the position of their songs doesn't
really matter, and I'll start this song review by saying : WOW. Lisa
appeared a while ago with Lionheart that divided the listeners
pretty much, but I suspect that this song is definitely gonna be a big hit.
The song starts off with just perfect energy and Lisa's vocals are
absolutely breathtaking. The song reminds me of A-Beat C males as it has a
similar heavy mood to it and especially the perfect c-melody will please
many. The song works on oh so many levels and I can say that I wasn't even
expecting to get something this effective, thank you once again SCP.Rating : 10+++

15.Freddy R. - R U Ready (A-Beat C)
The younger generation of eurobeat is coming and nothing can stop them, so
R U Ready? We got the first Freddy song just a while ago and
now he's back to make us dance even more. If you were waiting for a song
similar to Dance To The Music you'll be in for a surprise. The song
has a much heavier tone to it and it reminds a lot of Mega NRG Man.
The vocals at first sound kind of ridiculous as it sounds like Federico
would be forced to sing and he just doesn't sound at all natural. After a
while the vocals stopped bugging me and I grew to like them. A pretty
striking song and I can already imagine many people loving it, but also
many people complaining about his immature sound.Rating : 9+

16.Helena - Melodies And Rain (Time)
If people discuss about the different titles that Elena Ferretti
has done, it's Helena that mostly appears as the favorite one.
Songs like Lonely Night and Ez Do Dance worked just
perfectly and I wasn't even preparing for something as big so my general
level of expectations pretty much worked here. The song sounds exactly
like I could've expected, the speed is just what I thought and the chorus
is also what I thought it'd be. So in short: Time.Rating : 7

17.Dusty - Midnight Lover (SCP)
The 2nd Initial D song to appear on this one album... And what do you know?
They actually managed to pick two great songs to the series this
time. We already know that Ennio Zanini doesn't do bad songs, so
this song is pretty much like I thought it'd be. Energetic with the
typical SCP touch to it. The sounds are variable but you can easily notice
similarities to other SCP tracks which doesn't matter much as SCP isn't
moving on a similar level to Time.Rating : 9+

18.Sticky Tricky & Bang - Sticky Tricky & Bang!(SCP)The weird title that had people guessing what it'd be like. I was
expecting for something explosive and fast paced, so this time I was very
very surprised. The song reminds me of the bubbly Kiki & Fancy
style, just not as hyper. The vocalists seem to be kids, which just fits
the forthcoming of the new generation. I could imagine them being the
children of some of the eurobeat masters. Or even possibly the real
Kiki & Fancy vocals that aren't pitched up? Who knows, but the song is
very happy and bubbly, so if you enjoy a fun time you'll also probably
like the track. The song doesn't slow at all and is definitely distinctive
from the general masses of eurobeat. A good way to end the album.Rating : 9+

Final Words :
Super Eurobeat carries on with the general level that I've gotten sort of
used to already. This album is packed full of both great and both bad
songs. The definite highlights are Lolita, Mega NRG Man, Nuage &
Lisa Lion. These songs worked just marvellously, plus in addition
there were a lot of good songs that I liked a lot. In contrast there was a
really crappy level as well, and I have to say it was Delta this time that
really blew it. Their 5 songs were all pretty bad in contrast to the level
the label used to have. I have had a feeling lately that Andrea
Leonardi wouldn't be participating in the productions that much and
the slow-pace has been becoming their trademark. The other labels tried
going slow, but they started going back to the typical fast level that
most eurobeat fans adore. Now all I really wish is that Delta went back to
their brilliant style that they had for oh so many decades of Super
Eurobeat. Bring back Pizza Girl!
Anyways to sum the album in general. SCP and A-Beat C did magnificent,
their songs were all on the better end. The minority labels Vibration
& HI-NRG Attack did nicely and Time did alright, nothing horrible
but nothing memorable either. A merge of a few of the eurobeat labels
around would probably be a good idea as they all have so much talent and
when they combine their talents, that's exactly when we get true jewels.
I'm still hoping that this slow-period on Delta is just a transition phase
and they'll eventually go back to producing what they do so well.
Energy Love!